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Author: Mike Day

The local would like to thank Dennis Carrigan for his time and dedication as President of SOAR Chapter 19 and wish him all the best on his future plans. Dennis worked tirelessly to build the chapter up to what it is today and if you see Dennis please thank him for all his work.

We would also like to welcome Al Majore as the Chapters new President.

Your Local knows there has been lot’s of questions about what is happening and where the Apprenticeship Program is as the bids closed on July 29th. Well, the company asked the Union when it could meet in the next 2 weeks on Aug 27th, the Union responded on the 3rd that we are able to meet on the 13th. To date the Union has heard no response from the company.

This comes to no shock to the Union. The company fails to realize that individuals on this committee will be doing this on their personal time. Either this is another delay tactic by the company or????

Yesterday members from your Executive, along with members from Executive members from USW6673[ Calgary] and Staff Reps Keith Turcotte and Patrick Veinot met with Human Resources Management from both plants and the Director of Human Resources John Demarco. The Union from both plants voiced our concerns over the company’s handling, or lack there of, of grievances, the grievance process in general and the lack of accountability on their managers. We pointed out that in Regina, it’s an average of over 40 days before the local gets any communication at all from the company and how could we still possibly be waiting for responses on over 40 grievances? The company feels there has been progress made but both locals strongly disagree. The Company has committed to an improvement and both sides agreed to set up more meetings to deal with these and other issues in more of immediate fashion. We told them we have heard all this before and the proof will be in the pudding and with bargaining on the horizon, the ball is in their court to make the improvements needed.

Please be advised Regina Steel operations will not be working on Sunday, September 1st, 2019, resulting in a one day lay-off in accordance to Article 12.13 of the Collective Agreement between EVRAZ and USW Local 5890. Also steel operations will be shut down for the statutory holiday on Monday, September 2nd, 2019

The local has now received the lost pensionable service records from the company. If anyone has any questions regarding their “rewards statement” please get in touch with the pension committee members [Kurt Chernishenko & Dan Morin] or call the Union Office.

On September 21st your local is inviting our members down to the Union Hall for a Burger and Dog B.B.Q celebrating the day our charter was signed, September 21st,1959. This event will run from 3 p.m to 8 p.m.

Below is a listing of steel employees who elected to temp transferring to tubular. They will be scheduled in tubular for the week of August 4th. You are sequenced for indoc based on your seniority number (highest seniority are first to be indoc’d). Phone calls will start some time today. There may be a few probationary employees added to this list yet.

700 workers have voted to join the
United Steelworkers in the past month in several major successful organizing
campaigns in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

At the Red Chris mine near Dease Lake, British Columbia over 330 workers are
joining USW local 1-1937. As Canada’s mining union, the Steelworkers are
leading the way to ensure that miners make gains at the bargaining table and
have the strongest health and safety protection possible.

“Mining is an incredibly important industry and economic driver of our country.
And it’s miners who make it all happen. We’re proud to grow our ranks and will
be working with workers at other non-union mines to provide them the
opportunity to join the Steelworkers and improve their working lives,” says
District 3 Director Stephen Hunt.

USW Local 2009 has also won
certifications at Terrapure Environmental sites in North Vancouver, North Delta
and Prince George, B.C.

Another effort in Kamloops, B.C. was
secured by USW Local 1-417. Over 100 workers at Active Care, a community care
centre, voted to join the United Steelworkers earlier this month.

Over in Prince George, B.C., 30 workers
working at the Northwest Wood Treaters were verified last month and now join
USW Local 1-2017.

“These organizing victories speak to the
strength that our local unions have. Together, they want to build better
working lives for people living and working in their communities. They are
helping in growing our diverse union that fights for all workers,” says Hunt.

In Saskatchewan, the USW continues to be
the union of choice for taxi workers seeking fair treatment, safe working
conditions and a better future.

175 taxi workers at the ride hailing app
RIIDE in Saskatoon are the newest members of the Steelworkers. Despite employer
attempts to say that RIIDE drivers are not employees, the union was successful
in this groundbreaking organizing campaign. They join drivers at Comfort Cabs
and United/Blue Line as members of USW Local 2014.

“As times change and technology changes
our working lives, more and more workers find themselves in vulnerable
positions where their rights as workers are regularly violated and their work
is not respected. The answer to these challenges is to organize, unionize and
bargain collectively. USW is leading the way in this area,” Hunt
concluded.

As you may or may not know on July 12th a Notice of Layoff was issued for the Steel Division effective July 26th for 111 members. This is sudden and unexpected news and hope to work with the company for as smooth a transition that can be possible.

There has also been a change in Leadership at Evraz. CEO Conrad Winkler is leaving the company later in the summer and Senior V.P of Human Capital, Dario Cruz, will also be leaving the company effective July 17th. As of right now there has been no replacement announced for Mr. Cruz but there has been a replacement for Mr. Winkler and that is Skip Herald.

The CPI figure for April was released on May 15, 2019. Per the Collective Agreement, the following calculation will apply: April 2019 140.6 January 2019 137.4 Difference 3.2 Divide difference by .063 = $0.50 Effective with the first pay period after the release, COLA will be $1.21 per straight-time hour worked, as it was previously $0.71.

After extensive discussions on trade in steel and aluminum covered by the
action taken pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19
U.S.C. §1862), the United States and Canada have reached an understanding as
follows:

1. The United States and Canada agree to eliminate, no later than two days
from the issuance of this statement:

a. All tariffs the United States imposed under Section 232 on imports of
aluminum and steel products from Canada; and

b. All tariffs Canada imposed in retaliation for the Section 232 action
taken by the United States (identified in Customs Notice 18-08 Surtaxes Imposed on Certain
Products Originating in the United States, issued by the Canada
Border Services Agency on June 29, 2018 and revised on July 11, 2018).

2. he United States and Canada agree to terminate all pending litigation
between them in the World Trade Organization regarding the Section 232 action.

3. The United States and Canada will implement effective measures to:

a. Prevent the importation of aluminum and steel that is unfairly subsidized
and/or sold at dumped prices; and

b. Prevent the transshipment of aluminum and steel made outside of Canada or
the United States to the other country. Canada and the United States will
consult together on these measures.

4. The United States and Canada will establish an agreed-upon process for
monitoring aluminum and steel trade between them. In monitoring for surges,
either country may treat products made with steel that is melted and poured in
North America separately from products that are not.

5. In the event that imports of aluminum or steel products surge
meaningfully beyond historic volumes of trade over a period of time, with
consideration of market share, the importing country may request consultations
with the exporting country. After such consultations, the importing party may
impose duties of 25 percent for steel and 10 percent for aluminum in respect to
the individual product(s) where the surge took place (on the basis of the
individual product categories set forth in the attached chart). If the
importing party takes such action, the exporting country agrees to retaliate
only in the affected sector (i.e., aluminum and aluminum-containing products or
steel).

As you may have heard, the Canadian
Government just announced that the U.S. 232 tariffs on Canadian steel and
aluminum will be lifted in 48 hours. This is good news
for the hundreds of thousands of Canadian workers whose jobs depend on the
production of steel and aluminum.

As
a Union we have been pushing as hard as we can in both the US and Canada to get
these governments together to lift these tariffs. It is a credit to our Union’s
efforts in Washington, Ottawa and across North America that we have put sufficient
pressure on both governments to see that these tariffs between Canada and the
U.S. were harmful and made no sense.

So
we are pleased that the tariffs have been lifted and there will be no quotas
going forward. The agreement also includes a mechanism to monitor import surges
in steel and aluminum, but the details of that mechanism have not been
finalized. This is important because we continue to see a global overcapacity
in the steel market, and the US and Mexico have taken measures to close and protect
their steel market from surges and the dumping of steel from other countries
like China, Turkey and India.

We
remain concerned that unlike Mexico and the US (and Europe) Canada has not yet
taken measures to stabilize and protect the vast majority of our steel market
from import surges caused by overcapacity and the closing of other markets.

The
Canadian Border Services Agency announced Friday the final ‘safeguard’
surtaxes meant to shield the domestic steel industry from competition from
cheaper foreign imports of heavy plate and stainless steel wire.

Canada’s
steel producers had been hoping the federal government would protect its market
for other kinds of steel as well.

But
the Canadian International Trade Tribunal investigated the merits of
provisional safeguards placed on five other products earlier this winter and
reported it found
inadequate evidence to support claims that surges in foreign steel
imports posed a serious threat to the domestic industry.

“Canadian
steelworkers can count on this government,” Finance Minister Bill
Morneau said in the House of Commons last month after he confirmed that
the final safeguard surtaxes would be applied only to two kinds of steel.

His decision on final safeguards follows the
advice of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, which earlier this month
found no justification to continue a surtax on five other products that have
also been subject to a provisional 25 per cent surtax since last October.

Friday’s release from the Finance Department did not specify
what form the final safeguard action against these two products would take.
Morneau’s office said that would be announced “in the coming days.”

Every year thousands of people gather around the world on April 28th to observe the National Day of Mourning. This Sunday please come out to Queen Elizabeth Court II City Hall, 2476 Victoria Ave @1:00 pm to honor the workers that have been killed, injured or made ill by work.

1 is to many!! We at the United Steelworkers commit to Fight for the Living and Mourn for the Dead to make work safer for all of us.

The financial performance for the 1st quarter of 2019 resulted in profit sharing payment for employees under the Quarterly Bonus Plan. The payout will be $0.40 per eligible hour bonus payment for qualifying employees deposited into your bank account by May 3, 2019.

OTTAWA – Today, in the House of Commons, an NDP motion calling on the
Minister of Finance to implement permanent safeguard measures to protect
Canada’s steel industry passed unanimously.

“The passing of the NDP motion sends a strong message to the Liberal
government that we can no longer sit still while thousands of jobs in our steel
sector are in jeopardy,” said the NDP Critic for International Trade, Tracey
Ramsey. “The illegal dumping of dirty steel by foreign countries in Canada
is hurting workers, businesses and communities. The Finance Minister must act
urgently before it’s too late and implement the safeguard measures.”

The NDP motion urges the Finance Minister to follow the lead of European
Union in implementing the steel safeguard measures to protect workers. The
deadline Canada is up against to put in place those measures is April 27, 2019.
The Minister of Finance must act now to avoid putting at risk Canadian jobs in
the steel sector.

The motion that was passed today reads as follows:

“That,
given that many of the 23, 000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs of the
Canadian steel industry are at risk and that many of our economic partners,
like the European Union, protect workers with permanent safeguard
measures, the House urge the Minister of Finance to implement permanent
safeguards measures for our steel industry immediately to avoid a deadline
of April 27, 2019.”

Earlier this week we received a Memorandum of Understanding from the company regarding our Profit Sharing grievance. The grievance stated that the company was not providing us with the Audited Consolidated Statement of Income as outlined in the C.B.A. Specifically they were only giving us a spread sheet with numbers that could have come from anywhere. At the original meeting here in Regina we were told that the company knows they have been giving us the incorrect info but going forward they will provide us with the correct info from Ernst & Young and anything previous they will not give us. Well in Calgary the company provided us with the Audited Financial information from E&Y and it demonstrates and coincides with the figures and earnings from 2012 to present. Going forward the company has agreed to provide us with an extra level of information from the Auditor.

Foreign Affairs minister Chrystia
Freeland still calls U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel “illegal and unjust;” “frankly
absurd”, but won’t say definitively if they would prevent her government from
ratifying the new NAFTA agreement, or what the U.S. calls United
States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Pittsburgh — US line pipe producers
are urging the US to keep in place the Section 232 tariffs on exports of
large-diameter line pipe from Canada and Mexico, even if an updated trade
agreement between the three countries is ratified.

The American
Line Pipe Producers Association alleges that Canada and Mexico “continue
to engage in unfair trade practices” with respect to US imports of
large-diameter welded line pipe (LDWP), according to a statement from the group
issued Tuesday.